Coming up very quickly is our magnificent auction to be held in Baltimore in conjunction with the Whitman Coins & Collectibles Expo at the Convention Center. The show opens on Thursday morning, June 22 and runs through Sunday. Our auction showcases a wide variety of coins in many different American series.
For Stack’s Bowers Galleries the highlight will be our splendid auction in multiple sessions. Come early and view lots on Wednesday if your schedule permits, or do that on Thursday or Friday. Or, as many do, check our images and descriptions on the Internet or review our catalog. You can probably learn much about our offerings from home before you even leave for Baltimore
Every collector I have known over the years has had multiple specialties. If you are now nearing completion of a set of Morgan silver dollars, or large copper cents by Guide Book varieties, or commemoratives, consider another series to provide new challenges. In that regard our auction will be a wish book.
Baltimore is one of my favorite cities. I’m not alone in this feeling, as multiple surveys of coin dealers and collectors have named it as America’s favorite coin convention location as well. The Baltimore/Washington International Airport connects to flights to just about everywhere. By taxi it is less than a half hour to downtown, and when you reach the city, Inner Harbor beckons not only with the Convention Center but with many nice hotels in different price ranges and an excellent selection of restaurants.
I spent part of my youth in Baltimore, and my brother and sister were both born there. In recent numismatic times, Baltimore has continued to be part of my DNA, so to speak, what with the magnificent Garrett Collection consigned to us by Johns Hopkins University and sold in a series of four sales from 1979 to 1981, followed by the Louis E. Eliasberg, Sr., Collection sold in multiple sale events from1982 to 2005, not to overlook tradition in the form of the historic collections of Mendes I. Cohen (auctioned in 1875), the private cabinet of Waldo C. Newcomer, disbursed mostly privately in the 1930s, and many fine friends, including Melvin and George Fuld, prominent in the field of tokens and medals.
As to the convention itself, one of the finest bourses of the year invites you to spend hours browsing on everything numismatic — coins, tokens, medals and paper money. The booths have chairs where you can sit down and chat, greeting old friends and making new ones. Stack’s Bowers Galleries has a set up some paces off to the right of the entrance, where you will find me for much of Thursday and a good part of Friday as well. In the most recent Expo, I sat in a chair just beyond the cases and before I knew it several hours had passed as people came by to chat. Wayne Homren, editor of E-Sylum was one of them and wrote about it. Across the aisle is the display of Whitman Publishing, LLC, with hundreds of numismatic items for sale, including books. I have not kept track of how many bear my name on the cover, but it is at least a dozen or two. If you buy one, or more, I would be delighted to personally autograph them for you. On Thursday afternoon at 2, and lasting for one hour, will be a special “guest” event, so to speak. My co-author in The Postcards of Alphonse Mucha, Mary L. Martin, will be there with a supply of books, which Mary L. Martin Ltd., published and offers for sale. If you like Art Nouveau you might enjoy a copy.
The staff of Stack’s Bowers Galleries will mainly be in the lot viewing area on the third floor, up a quick escalator from the convention entrance. The auction itself will be held in several sessions next door.
If you come to Baltimore bring along your significant other or your family. There is a lot to do in the Inner Harbor area — museums, shopping and more.
Our involvement with the Whitman Coins & Collectibles Expo goes back many years, even before Whitman became involved. We are the official auctioneer for each show, held three times a year. The next event will be in November. I have arranged to consign quite a few interesting tokens, medals, and other items to the November Expo, as I have also done to the forthcoming Stack’s Bowers Galleries auction at the World’s Fair of Money in Denver in early August. I have been collecting coins, tokens and paper money for most of my life, and the time has come to share many of my favorite items with others. Rather than collecting landmark rarities, I mostly have items with interesting stories. Many of them have been written up in my books, such as Coins and Collectors Golden Anniversary Edition, and Lost and Found Coin Hoards and Treasures.
The Whitman Coins & Collectibles Expo is coming up quickly. If you plan to attend, I would be delighted to have you come by and say hello. If not, continue your enjoyment of numismatics and if I can help in any way I am but an email away.
All good wishes,
Dave Bowers
P.S. While writing this blog I was reading the June 6 issue of Numismatic News and I came across a comment in an article by Joshua McMorrow-Hernandez, in his discussion of small size dollars. He said: “Enjoying very brisk sales is one of the best print resources on Anthony dollars, A Guide Book of Modern United States Dollars Coins (Q. David Bowers, Whitman Publishing 2016). It’s one of my favorite books and is recommended reading for anybody who enjoys collecting dollar coins struck in the United States since 1971.”
